VRV (variable refrigerant volume, aka VRF--variable refrigerant flow) is a very energy efficient HVAC technology that's common in Japan and Europe, and becoming increasingly popular here. It uses refrigerant as the cooling and heating medium, rather than water. The refrigerant is circulated to building fan-coil units.

Some VRV virtues: low energy bills; excellent occupant comfort, because it minimizes temperature swings and controls humidity well; very quiet; easy to maintain; and it integrates well with existing energy management systems.

Its footprint is so much smaller than hotel chiller and boiler systems with cooling towers, that hotels use it to gain revenue-producing space.

It's much cheaper to recycle paint with TPE than to dispose it as hazardous waste. And, it's faster and neater than using the "kitty litter" method of drying out paint. It's much better for the environment to recycle paint than dispose it in incinerators or landfills.

Paint can be picked up at the hotel for a $50 fee, plus $1 to $2 per gallon of paint. You can drop off paint at TPE, too. See the presentation for details.

The recycled paint sells mostly at Habitat for Humanity ReStores, and is quite inexpensive.

IDEAS

Electric Vehicle Sales Expected to Rise Rapidly

Thus far, electric vehicle (EV) sales have been slower than projected. Two million EV's were sold worldwide in 2016, comprising only 1.1% of vehicle sales.

However, EV sales are likely to rise quickly, because:

EV costs continue to fall. A new report says that EV's will be cheaper than gasoline cars by the early to mid 2020's. Plus, they're several times cheaper to fuel and much less costly to maintain.

Several EV's now have a range of 220 miles or more.

Almost every automaker now makes EV's, and plans to expand their EV roster. GM will have 20 electric-only cars by 2023. Ford will introduce 13 new EV models by 2022. Volvo will only sell hybrids and fully battery-powered by 2019.

China, India, Germany, U.K., France and the Netherlands have announced dates by which they will ban the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles. Norway set the earliest date. They'll ban gasoline and diesel vehicle sales by 2025.

What does this mean for hotels?

More companies will offer electric hotel vans, the price of these vehicles will fall and their range will improve. To date, only a few companies like Zenith Motors and Via Motors sell plug-in hotel vans. The Zenith vans have a range of 80-135 miles. The Via Motors van goes 40 miles on electricity before converting to gasoline.

Mattress recycling is getting more attention recently, because 600,000 mattresses are discarded in MA annually; they're costly to dispose; up to 80% of a mattress can be recycled; and they take up much space in the state's dwindling landfills.

Six recyclers pick up mattresses in Boston, according to the RecycleWorks Massachusetts website, and five more will accept them if dropped off at their location.

The typical participating hotel will get three to four Tesla chargers and, if needed, a universal charging station that can serve non-Tesla EV's, too. Currently, Tesla has 45% of the U.S. plug-in market.